Temporary Break for USDA Disease Diagnostic Service

Due to a staffing crisis, the USDA-ARS Bee Disease Diagnostic Service in Beltsville, MD will be on hiatus, effective immediately. The University of Maryland Bee Lab has graciously supported Mr. Samuel Abban as he leads this 100-year old program, but Samuel is now needed fulltime for a critical University project. Every effort is being made to finalize the hiring of Samuel as a USDA employee so that he can continue this program. Please do not submit new samples until further notice. Samples in hand will be held in cold storage pending our ability to staff this program. In the meantime, the Bee Informed Partnership offers a paid service for analyzing colony loss samples, https://beeinformed.org/programs/emergency-response-kits-2/. We are extremely sorry for this disruption and look forward to continuing this program as part of USDA-ARS efforts to help beekeepers. Please contact us regarding urgent needs. Jay Evans, Research Leader, USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD 20705 jay.evans@ars.usda.gov, 301-504-5143.